Loose-leaf post binder



June 6, 1950 s. sc 2,510,662

LOOSE-LEAF POST BINDER Filed Jan. 8, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l T T INVENTOR6 ll: 6 7 7 I fin/m d'mmsnd'c /aas /7 m 1-7 BY @gJW ATTORNEYS June 6,1950 s. sc 2,510,662

LOOSE-LEAF POST BINDER Filed Jan. 8, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l N V E NTO RfkM/r Jumz5r$cm4oz BY @JJM ATTORN EYS Patented June 6, 1950 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICJE LOOSE LEAF POST BINDER Frank tanley Sc a H y ke, Mss, assign r to National Blank Book Compan Holyoke, Mass., a corporationof Massachusetts Application January 8, 1947, Serial No. 720,741

This invention relates leaf post binders-and particularly to the meohanism for mounting,v fastening. and. releasing the posts in the back of abinder case.

The purpose of. the invention is to make a better structure at lowercost than compe itive binders now on the market. The way is. done willneed to be expl ined in detail. After the de ail is understood the invntion will be seen in the combination. of parts.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 indicates a. binder case consisting of a back portion and twohinged covers before the loose leaf binder mechanism is mounted on theback portion;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of post binder mechanism in assembled condition;

Fig. 3 is a side view at the mechanism in F 2.;

Fig. .4 isv abottom view;

Fig. 5 is a plan view 01.5 a one piece channel member;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the member in Fig. 5 as indicated;

F '1 is a plan vi w of a comp nion one piece channel member;

Figv 8 is an end view of the member shown in Fig. '7 as indicated; a

Fi 9 is a side view of the member shown in gigs; and a viewed as.indicated by arrows in r g.

Fig. 1 i a s ction on line ill-:10 oi Fi 8; and

Figs. 11, 12, and 13 are plan, si e and bo tom. ws p v y of a form ofpost. preferred for use in the mechanism. V

a In Fig, 1 a typical binder case havin covers, I and 2 separated by aback portion 3 is shown with the covers in open position, but Withoutloose leaf binder mechanism attache Such mechanism is fastened to theback por i n 3,

usually by rivets. ,An example of my imp oved loose leaf bindermechanism construction, i which my preferred form of binder po tmounting is incor orated, is shown in Figs. v2a .3 and. 4 in completelyassembled .form ready to beattached to a binder case back. This mountingconsists of a U-sha-pcd channel member 4 in which a second U-shaped'channel member 5 is cradled. The channel member 5 is a pt d to slideback and forth from a central locking position within a guidewayprovided by upturned side walls 6 of channel member 4 against frictionalrestraint and within certain limits, as wi l be explained later. Theside walls 6 are folded over, as shown in Fig. 6, to form a track toreceive side walls i of channel m ber 5. In addition notches 8 are outin side walls 6 to receive socket portions 9 and In of loose lea!sheet'retainin post members H, said members ll no mally bridging th hped channel m mbers. as shown in Fig. 2, while retaining a stack oflooseleaf sheets. Prongs l2 and I3 Iormed inside 4 Claims. (01.129424)to improvements in loose w lls l f channel member 5, see Figs. il. and 1are adapted to. enter the, socke s 9 nd Fi l2l to lock the sheetcarrying post members H. in sheet retaining position, or to be withdrawnto one side or the. other to a post member r leasin position when the.channe member 5 is s d within guide chann 4'. t w ll be not as hown. inFigs. 9. and lb and as viewed in those fi r s. pron s 12. are so form dha t ey p int to the left, While prongs l3 p in to the r ght. Thus. ifthe channel member 5 c ntral y disposed within channel member 4, a inFig.2, both sets f pr ngs l2 and I3 ex end through heir re pccr tlvfe.socket portionsoi post members ll locking said post. members. in sheetret in ng p s on- F om this central position, and c ns der n Fi 2, 9 and10, ii sliding m mber 5 is m ved to the ri ht pro gs '2 are withdra nfrom s cketporions 9 of post. members. ll leaving ha sid onlocked andfree to. swing out. of no ches 8 'fo the addition or removal of looseleaf hee sn s p sition the side of post members it c ntamins sock tpotions it remains locked inp ace by he deeper penetration of said socketportions U! by prongs 13. If sliding member 5 is moved to the leftprongs [3. are withdrawn from socket por tions 10 of post members I lleaving that side un-. locked. In this position the side of the pomembers containing socket portions a remains locked in place by thedeeper penetration of sai socket portions by the prongs. [2.

To guide and limit the sliding motion of memhe 5 nm mber 4 a d tent-likearrangement is provided by the coop ration of an upstruck button-likeprojection is of the channel memb r 4 with a centering hole [5 and Slotsl6 and U in the channel m mber 5. In addition slo s 18 are out in member5 in which the shanks oi rivets (not shown) are accommodated while thememe bar 5 is being shifted to one side or the other, The slidablechannel member 5 has uptu ned end flanges 19' to facilitate the transferof the trio.\ tionally restrained channel member 5 by band from itscentral position in the channel 4 in which the projection M of channelmember A is held within the centering hole 15 of member 5.

to a post member release positionr in wh ch. pro- .jectionl4 rides ineither slot IE or slot l1-i ;ho

position chosen depending on which side of co member ll requiresfreedom.

Reviewing briefly the operation, and considering particularly theassembled binder mechanism as shown in'Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the postmembers H are released on one side or the other when the channel member5 is moved Within the guideway formed by channel member 4 by pressure oneither of the flanges !9, so that the projection I4 rides out of thecentral hole IS in channel meme bar 5 against the frictional resistanceoffered by the bottom of channel member 5 until it drops into eitherslot [6 or ll as determined by the direction of the pressure applied tothe flange member concerned. This motion of the channel member iscontinued until either prong [2 or prong l3 of member 5 clears notch 8in the side wall 6 of member 4. This frees one side of the post membersH on one side so that loose leaf sheets may be added or removed. Theaction of returning the channel member to the central position locks thepost members once more in sheet retaining position. I

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the metal at the bottom of channel 4 isrelieved on both sides of projection M by slots to impart a spring-likequality to the strip 2! on which projection I4 is carried. So that, ineffect, the projection l4 acts as a spring detent to locate the channelmember 5.

Frequently loose-leaf post binders are used to contain records which arepreferably locked in place after a period of use, so that, althoughreference may be made to the contents of said book, nothing may be addedor removed without damage to the binder. Provision is made for thisfunction in the improved structure of Figs. 2 to 10 by means of alocking tab 26 formed in the side 6 of the channel member by a U-shapedslot 2! cut therein, Fig. 3, and a rectangular opening 28, Fig. 9, cutin the side of channel member 5. When member 5 is in post member lockingposition, that is, centrally located in channel 4, as has beenexplained, the locking tab 26 coincides with the rectangular opening 28so that, if the stiff tab 26 is bent into the opening 28 by force itwill remain in this position by reason of the inherent inflexibility ofthe metal in small tab form used and so prevent any relativedisplacement of one channel member with respect to the other. There willbe no easy way to bend the tab 26 back because the bound sheets willfill up and block off the inside of the U-shaped assembly.

.The nearest prior art known to me is seen in Patent No. 1,876,232 of1932'. It will be seen on comparison that the structure of said patentis relatively cumbersome to make and assemble and entails a relativelyhigh cost of manufacture. Analysis of the old and the new structure willshow that the new one is a much simpler one for the user to understandand use. One purpose of the two structures is the same, that is meanswhereby the fastening devices on both sides of a group of leaves may beconcurrently operated and will release the leaf-securing members ateither of their ends without, at the same time, releasing their otherends. This being so the new and useful structure of this inventiondisclosed is to be measured by the better way to accomplish the commonpurpose.

In the different structure, to accomplish the main purpose, there havebeen disclosed several structural features to make the binder moreuseful.

Having disclosed the invention, the claims are:

l. A loose leaf post binder comprising a channel member to be fastenedon the inside of a, binder case back panel, a second channel membercradled in the first one to slide back nd forth, both sides of the firstchannel member having slots spaced along their upper edges, a set ofposts, each having eyes at its opposite ends to rest in the said slots,both sides of said second channel member having spaced bayonet slotswith their short portions opening through their upper edges, the slotsbeing formed to straddle said eyes, the long portions of the bayonetslots on one side being in reverse relation to those on the other sideand all parallel and close to said upper edges of their channel member,all constructed and arranged so that prongs are provided above said longslot portions to fit the eyes of said posts and sliding of the secondchannel member in the first channel member to different positions maycause the prongs to engage the post eyes on one side while disengagingthe eyes on the other side or oppositely engage and disengage them orengage the eyes of the posts on both sides.

2. A loose leaf post binder comprising a channel member to be fasteneddown on the back panel of a binder case, the upper edges of said memberbeing turned inwardly and downwardly to form slides, a second channelmember cradled to slide in the first one with its upper edge portionsengaged in said slides, a set of posts each having eyes at its two ends,a set of short corresponding slots to pass the post eyes down or up forpositioning orremoving post ends with relation to corresponding topportions of both channel members, long slots closely adjacent to andparallel to the top edges of the second channel member and opening intoits first named slots, the ones to pass the post eyes, the long slots onone side extending fromits connected short slots in the oppositedirection to that of the corresponding long slots on the other side,thematerial of the channel above the long slots being dimensioned to fitthe eyes of said set of posts in the form of prongs, all constructed andarranged so that upon sliding the second channel member into balancedposition with relation to the first member all the posts will ,befastened in the binder in sheet retaining position, upon sliding to theright the posts will be released at corresponding ends on one side ofthe binder while being retained on the other side and upon sliding tothe left the binder eyes will be released and retained respectively ontheir opposite sides.

3. The structure of claim 2 in combination with cooperating limitingmeans, part on one and part on the other of said channel members, todetermine their functional positions of post retaining, post releasingon one side, and post releasing on the opposite side of the binder.

i. The structure of claim 2 in combination with a small opening throughone side of the second channel member, a, small tab to align with saidsmall opening in the side of the first channel member when the twomembers are in balanced or sheet post retaining positions with prongs inall the eyes of all the posts, the metal of the channel members beingadapted when the tab is bent into said small hole by a forcing tool tolock the binder parts for the prongs to retain all the posts in sheetretaining position against any normal attempt to release them.- Y

FRANK STANLEY SCHADE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 789,185. Suchert May 9, 1905835,171 Walker Nov. 6, 1906 1,662,874 Valkenburgh Mar. 20, 19281,876,232 Hutchings Sept. 6, 1932 1,891,037 Auburn Dec. 13, 19321,909,320 Unger May 16, 1933 2,148,789. Unger Feb. 28, 1939 2,164,659McChesney et a1. July 4, 1939

